Brassiere



United States Patent References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72]inventors SamGuberman Bayonne, New Jersey;

Raymond Pioli, Floral Park, New York 0 W 9 M M 00 8 7. 2 l .l M m "N m.m PP." e B TI amw m SRG O 3 5 5 2 9 9 l l 9 3 9 8 7 7 l 9 5 2 6 2 2 0 mH! Q' m s 530 0e 7FA o. d w. m d WEE .fla AF? .11] 25 224 [[rt [73]Assignee Maidenform Primary Examiner- Adele M. Eager New York: New YorkAltomey- W. Lee Helms a corporation of New York ABSTRACT: A brassiereprovided with means to overcome a condition when the wearer of a usualtype of brassiere is relaxed, such brassiere at the to from the chestwall pper margin ownwardly to a termination at or below a linehorizontally crossing the apex of each cup.

p line tending to stay away forming a gap, and the breasts not having adesired separation. Said means comprises an elastic-induced shirring ofthe brassiere fabric vertically in an area between the cups of thebrassie re and extending from its u d 9 y 4 4 34 W W 2 2 11M].

m u u w E m I. 9 m L a c RC m" B1 II M 4 Um U U r LU Patented Aug. 25,1970 ATTORNEY.

BRASSIERE The invention will be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation with the left-hand back band turnedto expose its inner face. dotted lines showing the position of thebrassiere top line when the elastic-induced shirring is relieved of itsaction; the shoulder straps are broken away.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2, FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view on the same vertical section as that for FIG. 2,showing the fabric of the brassiere relieved from the elasticinducedshirring.

FIG. 4 is a composite view, showing at the left a side view of one cupand part of its connected back band, the position of the cup shown asrelieved from the action of the elastic-induced shirring; whereas theright hand view, in conjunction with the upper dotted line, shows actionby the said verticalline elastic-induced shirring.

Referring to the drawings it will be seen that the brassiere consists oftwo cups, each cup having an upper section 1 and a lower section 1", andeach cup having at its base a framing band 2 which, in the presentembodiment, is integral with an appropriate back band 3. As customary,the ends of the back bands carry connecting elements, such as the hooks4 and the eyes 5.

Each cup at its top margin carries one end of a shoulder strap 6, theopposite end leading to and being seamed directly or indirectly to anappropriate back band. As customary each shoulder strap may beadjustable in length.

Reference to FIG. 1 will show that in the present embodiment the framingstrips 2 swing upwardly at the area between the cups and they aremarginally reinforced by strips 7 seamed to their inner margins andextending lengthwise on the back bands. Strips preferably havelongitudinal stretch, that is to say in the direction of their length.The upper margins of the back bands likewise are reinforced by innerstrips 8 which extend along the inner face margins of the cups.

At the vertical area between the cups and rearwardly thereof ispositioned an elastic strip 9, having longitudinal stretch, that is tosay in the direction of its length and hence vertically when thebrassiere is in position on the wearer.

The elastic strip 9 generally will be stretched when applied to thegarment. As shown in FIG. 3 one end of strip 9 is seamed to and inwardlyof the cup framing strips 2 where they meet, and the opposite end ofstrip 9 in stretched condition is seamed to the fabric of the upper cupsections where they meet, and to the inner face reinforcing strip 8.

When the elastic strip 9 is released from its position in FIG. 3 it willshir or gather the fabric of the upper cup sections, as shown in FIG. 2and as indicated in FIG. I. bringing the upper line of the two cupsinwardly to hug the chest wall. as from the dotted line position in FIG.1 to the full line position, and, very importantly, will forceseparation of the breasts and maintain such separation by the imposedyielding pressure intermediate the cups.

It will be. understood that various modifications may be made in theform of the elements of the embodiment illustrated without departurefrom the spirit of the invention. The elastic tensioning pull of thestrip 9 may be varied as to degree and should be such that a reasonablepull of the shoulder straps by usual adjustment thereof will cause adesired degree of vertical elongation of the shirring without affectinga comfortable wearing of the brassiere.

We claim:

1. A brassiere comprising two cups having a vertical line of connectionwhen the brassiere is worn, back bands for the cups and means forconnecting them, and means crossing said line of mutual connection ofthe cups adapted to produce and maintain an elastic-induced shirring ofthe cups, said shirring being yieldable along said vertical line ofconnection of the cups, and, in relation to the area of the cups, beingrelatively narrow, in which each back band forms a bottom and outer sideframing for its appropriate cup. the outer portion of the back bandbeing relatively wide and inwardly merging into a relatively narrowstrap-like portion extending in an upwardly directed curvatureencircling the lower portion of the cup and terminating about a linehorizontally crossing the apex of the cap, the joined strip-likeportions of the two back bands forming a sharp upwardly directedinverted V-formation between and joined to the cups,'reinforcing stripscarried by said striplike portions of the back bands and for each bandextending along the upper margin of the band and terminating at the topof the appropriate cup at about a vertical line extending across theapex of the cup, and a relatively short elastic piece between andrearwardly of the cups, the lower end of the elastic piece being securedto the inverted V-formation formed by joining the strip-like areas ofthe back bands, the elastic piece then being connected to the cups atthe top of the joining line thereof, said elastic piece being limited inits action upon the fabric of the joined cups by forming a freelycontractable and extensible shirring extending from above the upwardlyextending apex of the inverted V-formation, of the back band joinedstrip-like portions, to the top of the joining line of the two cups.

